Psychological Need For Autonomy Research Articles

Basic psychological needs to online engagement and achievement among first-year undergraduates

Empirical research has largely focused on either identifying online learner characteristics or best practices to support online learning in higher education settings. Yet gaps remain in our empirical understanding of which and to what extent certain factors influence online learning. This exploratory study sought to corroborate the influence of three student-level variables in Basic Psychological Needs (BPNs) of autonomy, competence, and relatedness among students as they participate in online higher education coursework. This study conducted multiple regression modelling on 159 cases of first-year undergraduate students to determine the extent to which the three variables relate to engagement and achievement in online coursework. Results present preliminary empirical evidence that the basic psychological need for autonomy relates to achievement in online coursework. However, the other basic psychological needs of competence and relatedness did not clearly relate with either engagement or achievement. Results in part affirm the claim that efforts to drive student achievement in online higher education coursework ought to embed elements that support student autonomy. And results support a position of nuance where BPNs influence specific dimensions rather than all dimensions of online higher education learning as a catch-all construct.

The effects of teacher motivational practice on learner L2 achievement: A self-determination theory perspective using structural equation modeling

A central point that has attracted researchers’ attention for several decades is related to establishing the causal relationship between student motivation and second language (L2) achievement. Based on self-determination theory, we investigated the effects of motivational interventions applied by English language teachers on subsequent L2 achievement through the meditating effect of students’ basic psychological need for autonomy, intrinsic motivation, and motivational intensity. To obtain precise results, we applied structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine whether the impact of the intervention on L2 achievement was direct and/or indirect. The results of SEM indicated that the effect is both direct and indirect, and the model variables explained approximately 87% of the variance in students’ achievement. Moreover, the indirect effects of the intervention on L2 achievement were significant, suggesting the key role that autonomy and intrinsic motivation played in understanding the positive impact of teacher motivational strategies on students’ language achievement. The experimental-driven findings represented by the SEM model in the present study denote a strong empirical evidence of the role of teacher motivational practice on student L2 achievement and important implications for the English as a foreign language (EFL) profession in this regard.

Let me decide: Increasing user autonomy increases recommendation acceptance

The use of algorithm assistance for decision making is vastly increasing in recent years, largely in online settings wherein users receive advice from recommendation systems. Despite the prevalence of such augmented decision making, users sometimes demonstrate aversion toward algorithms and even reject the recommendations of highly accurate systems. Research in behavioral decision making on the one hand, and in information systems on the other, has yet to fully comprehend these phenomena. We build on insight from these two research streams, as well as from self-determination theory, in identifying the psychological need for autonomy as a driver of decreasing algorithm aversion and increasing recommendation acceptance. We identify two concrete autonomy mechanisms—choice autonomy and control autonomy—which may increase the willingness of users to accept algorithmic recommendations. In three online experiments, simulating the process of selecting a vacation package, we consistently find that showing users multiple recommendations instead of a single recommendation, thereby increasing their choice autonomy, significantly increases recommendation acceptance, both when the system is perfectly accurate (Study 1) and when it is not (Studies 2 and 3). Furthermore, we find in Study 3 that allowing users control over whether they receive single or multiple recommendations, thereby increasing their control autonomy, has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between choice autonomy and recommendation acceptance, suggesting a complementarity between the two autonomy mechanisms. In so doing, we provide theoretical grounding and empirical evidence for the positive consequences of increasing user autonomy on the effectiveness of recommendation systems.

Development of competencies in secondary education through the motivational style of autonomy support.

The aim of the study was to test the effect of a meta-disciplinary intervention based on the motivational style of autonomy support on the development of competencies in secondary school students. It was carried out by means of a quasi-experimental design and lasted for three months. A total of 62 students between the ages of 12 and 16 (M = 13.61; SD = 1.16) participated, with 33 in the experimental group and 29 in the control group, along with 12 teachers (7 in the intervention group and 5 in the control group). The study measured teaching motivational style, satisfaction of basic psychological needs, motivation, and key competencies. The results demonstrate improvements in the autonomy-supportive motivational style, satisfaction of the basic psychological need for autonomy, autonomous motivation, and competencies in the experimental group, while the control group exhibited an increase in the chaos style. These findings reveal the positive impact of the supportive motivational style on the development of key competencies establishing it as an active, valid, and reliable methodology to motivate secondary school students.

Exploring technology acceptance patterns of users of the mixed-reality sport technology Zwift: antecedents and consequences of technology acceptance

AbstractThe use of digital technologies in sports is increasing. The current paper deals with the technology acceptance of users of a mixed-reality sport technology called Zwift. The purpose of this study is to identify distinct profiles of Zwift users based on indicators of technology acceptance. Latent profile analysis (n = 877) identified three distinct latent profiles representing subgroups characterized by moderate, high and very high acceptance indicators. Results of the multinomial regression show that individuals with higher perceptions of the basic psychological need for autonomy and relatedness as well as individuals with high data privacy perceptions are more likely to be classified in the very high and high acceptance profiles than in the moderate acceptance profile. The results also show that older individuals are more likely to be classified in the moderate acceptance profile than in the very high acceptance profile even though odds ratio is rather low. The high and very high acceptance profiles also show higher behavioural intention to use Zwift in the future than the moderate acceptance profile.

Professional identification in the beginning of a teacher's career: a longitudinal study on identity formation and the basic psychological need for autonomy in VET teacher training.

This study examines the extent to which VET trainee teachers' identification with their profession is related to their basic psychological need for autonomy and whether this is reflected in their intention to stay in the field. Trainee's subjective experience of their professional identity interacts with different conditions of the training environment, whereby we focus on perceived autonomy support and autonomy thwarting behavior of seminar teachers. On the basis of a longitudinal design with a total of 79 trainee teachers in Germany and four survey time points during teacher training, corresponding developmental processes were traced over a total period of 1 year. Cross-lagged panel analyses allow us to draw conclusions about the extent to which professional identification of trainees interacts with autonomy-support or autonomy-thwarting conditions originating from seminar teachers and to what extent the aforementioned factors in turn affect intention to stay. Cross-lagged panel analyses show that professional identification after 6 months in teacher training significantly predicts the intention to stay in the teaching profession half a year later. Significant cross paths each describe positive effects between professional identification and autonomy support and negative effects between professional identification and autonomy thwarting. Particularly against the background of the shortage of teachers in Germany and other countries, the promotion of professional identification processes in the sense of a teacher identity can be assessed as crucial. In this respect, an autonomy-supporting environment, e.g., created by seminar teachers, can already contribute to that during teacher training.

Opening the “Black Box”: How Out-of-Class Use of Duolingo Impacts Chinese Junior High School Students’ Intrinsic Motivation for English

Purpose Mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) apps such as Duolingo have great potential for promoting learners’ motivation to learn a second language (L2). However, little research has investigated how this motivational impact takes place. Additionally, despite the flexibility of mobile learning, most existing studies are conducted in classroom settings, with less attention paid to out-of-school technology usage. Design/Approach/Methods To address these gaps, we present a model based on self-determination theory and propose the idea of “motivational transfer” to explain the psychological mechanism underpinning the impact of technology. To examine the model, we conducted a case study with 20 Year 8 Chinese junior school students who used Duolingo to learn English as a foreign language (EFL) after school for 6 weeks. Findings Questionnaire and group interview data support our hypothesized mechanism: learners’ activity-specific intrinsic motivation (IM) for using Duolingo and their underlying psychological need for autonomy and competence can be transferred to a more general level, thereby enhancing learners’ global IM for L2. Originality/Value The proposed theoretical model expands our understanding of how digital technology stimulates learners’ L2 motivation; it can help L2 educators design better technological affordances to promote learners’ motivation both in and outside the classroom.

Self-service technology recovery: the importance of psychological need support

PurposeThe service recovery literature provides little guidance to firms on how users of self-service technology (SST) perceive assistance provided by human and non-human service agents following a service obstacle. This research responds by addressing two important research questions about SST recovery: (1) how are perceptions of assistance provided following a service obstacle influenced by a customer's psychological needs? and (2) does supporting the psychological needs of customers positively impact continuance intentions following a service obstacle?Design/methodology/approachData are collected to address the research questions via five experiments that explore how assistance provided by a non-human (vs human vs no assistance) service agent contributes to perceptions of psychological support and continuance intentions following a service obstacle while volitionally using SST.FindingsThe results show that while users of SST would prefer to do so without an obstacle requiring intervention of a service agent, if assistance is required then the psychological need support elicited from a non-human service agent was vital to an effective recovery. Further, the findings highlight some boundary conditions for this relationship, with the impact of customer perceived need support on continuance intentions found to be sensitive to fit between the task and assistance provided and the complexity of the task being completed.Originality/valueMuch of the prior service recovery literature has emphasized the different types of tactics that can be used (e.g. apologizing, monetary compensation and explaining what happened), failing to appreciate the role of different types of service agents or the underlying psychological process that explain the relative merit of such tactics. The present research shows that for these tactics to influence continuance intentions, they must be provided by a relevant service agent and support a customer's psychological need for autonomy, competence and relatedness. The hypothesized impact of psychological need support on continuance intentions was also observed to be contingent upon the fit between the task and the type of assistance provided, where the level of task complexity attenuated this fit.

Between Concealment and Disclosure: Approaches to the History of Privacy in Knowledge-Making

Between Concealment and Disclosure: Approaches to the History of Privacy in Knowledge-Making

The depth of stories: How Black young adults' disclosure of high arousal negative affect in narratives about the COVID-19 pandemic and the BLM protests improved adjustment over the year 2020.

The present study investigates whether the way Black young adults constructed their narratives regarding the stressful events of the COVID‐19 pandemic and the black lives matter (BLM) protests related to adjustment over time. A two‐wave mixed prospective and retrospective longitudinal study was conducted in July and December 2020 and included a total of 90 Black young adults. Narrative reports were collected at baseline to determine the psychological interpretations of the two events and were coded based on affect disclosure. Both time points examined adjustment to the COVID‐19 pandemic and the BLM protests as well as the extent to which the basic psychological needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence were affected. Our results showed that disclosure of high arousal negative affect in narratives at baseline was associated with better adjustment over time. Additionally, results of process analyses showed that satisfaction of the basic psychological need for autonomy (e.g., feelings of personal agency, choice, and volition) mediated the association between narratives and adjustment. These results suggest that engaging in disclosure of high arousal negative affect may be associated with heightening adjustment because it enhances individuals' autonomy, perhaps resulting in a beneficial integration of the events into their broader life narratives. These findings highlight the potential of well‐constructed narratives to impact adjustment over time and have implications for clinical practice to support Racialized communities during unprecedented events.

Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction, Job Crafting, and Meaningful Work: Network Analysis

To satisfy the psychological needs at work, employees engage in job crafting, which allows them to modify their jobs in meaningful ways. This study extends the research by examining the relationships between variables of job crafting model (i.e., basic psychological need for autonomy, competence and relatedness, perceived opportunities to craft, job crafting, and meaningful work) in a single system network. Participants were 340 Brazilian professionals (mean age 46 years, 61% female). We used network analysis (e.g., partial correlations, shortest paths, centrality measures). The results indicated that psychological needs influenced behavioral crafting and that cognitive crafting served as a mediator of these strategies to meaningful work. Autonomy and perceived opportunities to craft were the shortest paths to meaningful work. Cognitive crafting exerted the strongest influence on meaningful work. The findings suggest that meaningful work is developed through a proactive bottom-up process.

Motivational predictors of subjective welbeing in active adults gymnasium practitioners

The aim of this study was to determine motivational predictors of subjective well-being in active adults who practice gymnasium, based on the theory of self-determination. 348 subjects participated in this study, 174 of both sexes, between 18 and 67 years old (M=31.83 SD=12.86), with an average of 4.37 years of practice of gym activities, mostly training 3 times a week, with an average of 310.11 minutes weekly. The Basic Psychological Needs Scale in Exercise, the Exercise Behavioral Regulation Questionnaire, the Life Satisfaction Scale, and the Positive and Negative Affects Scale were used. Descriptive statistics, Spearman correlation and linear regression by blocks were elaborated. The highest mean values were recorded for the basic psychological need for autonomy, autonomous motivation and life satisfaction. There were positive correlations between basic psychological needs, autonomous motivation, life satisfaction, positive affect and the volume of minutes of weekly training. Positive correlations were also observed between controlled motivation, amotivation and negative affect. The linear regression analysis allowed us to verify that the basic psychological needs explain a higher percentage value for the variability of data on satisfaction with life and positive affect, compared to motivation.

A team level participatory approach aimed at improving sustainable employability of long-term care workers: a study protocol of a randomised controlled trial

BackgroundStaff currently working in long-term care experience several difficulties. Shortage of staff and poor working conditions are amongst the most prominent, which pose a threat to staff’s sustainable employability. To improve their sustainable employability it is important to create working conditions that fulfil workers’ basic psychological need for autonomy, relatedness and competence in line with Self-Determination Theory. Since many long-term care organisations work with self-managing teams, challenges exist at team level. Therefore, there is a need to implement an intervention aimed at maintaining and improving the sustainable employability of staff on team level.MethodsWe developed a participatory workplace intervention, the Healthy Working Approach. In this intervention teams will uncover what problems they face related to autonomy, relatedness and competence in their team, come up with solutions for those problems and evaluate the effects of these solutions. We will evaluate this intervention by means of a two-arm randomized controlled trial with a follow-up of one year. One arm includes the intervention group and one includes the waitlist control group, each consisting of about 100 participants. The primary outcome is need for recovery as proxy for sustainable employability. Intervention effects will be analysed by linear mixed model analyses. A process evaluation with key figures will provide insight into barriers and facilitators of the intervention implementation. The Ethical Committee Social Sciences of the Radboud University approved the study.DiscussionThis study will provide insight in both the effectiveness, and the barriers/facilitators of the implementation process of the Healthy Working Approach. The approach is co-created with long-term care workers, focuses on team-specific challenges, and is rooted in the evidence-based participatory workplace approach and Self-Determination Theory. First results are expected in 2022.Trial registrationNetherlands Trial Register, NL9627. Registered 29 July 2021 - Retrospectively registered.

The Music Practice Motivation Scale: An exploration of secondary instrumental music students’ motivation to practice

This study sought to explore high school band students’ motivation for practicing their instruments using the basic tenets of self-determination theory as a theoretical lens. Exploring levels of self-determination alongside years of musical experience, time reported practicing, grade level, gender, instrument selection, and private lesson study, this study sought to utilize the Music Practice Motivation Scale (MPMS) with a high school instrumental music population. Using multivariate analyses of variance, participants reported higher levels of intrinsic motivational beliefs toward practicing over external motivations. Extrinsically motivated students, however, were more likely to rate stronger agreement with an introjected regulation style indicating the importance of others’ views of practice on their own belief system. Despite potential issues with the fulfillment of the psychological need for autonomy, data suggest a weak correlation between private lesson study and the bolstering of intrinsic motivation. Reliability analysis demonstrated strong support for the inclusion of the MPMS in high school-level classrooms when seeking to determine and guide student self-determination to practice. Strong connections were found to support the fulfillment of psychological needs in the instrumental music classroom through targeted activities that focus on the development of intrinsic motivational beliefs focused on feelings of achievement, knowledge, and affect.

When body positivity falls flat: Divergent effects of body acceptance messages that support vs. undermine basic psychological needs

Although women now have access to messaging about body acceptance, the risks and benefits of such messaging are not well-researched. Using a self-determination theory framework, we contrasted need-supportive versus need-undermining messages about body acceptance. One message supported the basic psychological need for autonomy (i.e., personal agency to accept one’s body); one targeted the basic need for body acceptance from others; and one used pressure to elicit body positivity – a need-undermining strategy. We contrasted these messages with one another and with a typical message of thinness idealization. In Experiments 1–4, we found that pressuring pro-body messages were more harmful to body image than messages that used autonomy support and acceptance from others. That is, they produced more pressure, less agency, and lower acceptance. Moreover, Experiments 2–4 showed that need-supportive messages increased state self-esteem from baseline, whereas pressuring body positivity did not. In Experiment 3 message-related self-perceptions mediated the effect of need-supportive messages on state self-esteem. In Experiment 4, need-supportive body acceptance messages reduced body shame and body surveillance, whereas pressure to be body positive did not – and this effect was mediated by body satisfaction induced by the message. We highlight the important difference between need-supportive and need-undermining body positivity.

GENDER SPECIFICITY OF SUBJECTIVITY MANIFESTATIONS IN SITUATIONS OF AUTONOMY AND NON-AUTONOMY

The relevance of this article is due to the need to study the gender specifics of the relationship between the manifestations of subjectivity (mental states, procedural and effective parameters of the situation) with the basic psychological need for autonomy to apply the data obtained in the practice of psychological and pedagogical support of the educational process at the university. The goal of the empirical research was to determine the gender common and peculiar in the manifestations of subjectivity, depending on the degree of autonomy of the subject of activity. The main hypothesis was the assumption that there are differences in the manifestations of subjectivity in situations with different levels of autonomy among respondents of different genders. The sample consisted of 112 people (56 men and 56 women). The age of men was from 22 to 42 years (M=25, SD=3,5 years). The age of women was from 22 to 45 years (M=24, SD=2,8 years). The respondents - advanced students (n=112) in the form of a free essay described the situations of extrinsic and internal motivation when studying at the university and compared them with each other by any possible criteria. For data processing, the methods of content analysis, frequency analysis of text and the Fisher angular transformation criterion were used. Statistically significant differences in the emotional and intellectual-emotional manifestations of states in subjects of different sexes were revealed. In situations of autonomy, women more often experienced states of joy, interest and passion (p≤0,05), and men experienced pleasure (p≤0,01). The state of relief in situations of non-autonomy was more common for women than for men (p≤0,01). Differences in the frequency of mention of procedural and effective parameters of situations in respondents of different sexes were not found. The results of the study can be used in the development of programs for the adaptation of future specialists to changes in the labor market conditions.

Engaging Startup Employees via Charismatic Leadership Communication: The Importance of Communicating “Vision, Passion, and Care”

This study explores how startup leadership communication influences employee outcomes. Specifically, drawing upon interdisciplinary insight from public relations, leadership, and managerial psychology, this study tests how startup CEO charismatic leadership communication, which is characterized by envisioning, energizing, and enabling behaviors help nurture quality employee relationships with the startup and engage startup employees. Employees’ psychological need satisfaction was examined as a potential mediator in this process. This study sets its context in mainland China where startups are rapidly developing alongside increased governmental policy and financial support encouraging innovation. Through a quantitative survey of 1,027 Chinese startup employees from a variety of industries in China, this study showed that startup leader charismatic communication meets employee psychological need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, which ultimately contributes to quality employee-startup relationships and employee engagement. This study provides important theoretical implications for public relations, internal communication and management scholars and offer practical insights for entrepreneurs and startup leaders on how to utilize strategic communication to engage startup employees.

Impact of basic psychological needs on organizational justice and helping behavior: a self-determination perspective

PurposeIntegrating the social exchange perspective of helping behavior with self-determination theory (SDT), this study seeks to examine the impact of employees' psychological needs on perceived organizational justice and the impact of perceived organizational justice on employees' helping behavior.Design/methodology/approachCross-sectional and cross-organizational data were obtained from 177 full-time employees employed in 12 small- and medium-sized oil and gas service companies. A partial least squares approach using SmartPLS was employed to test the hypotheses.FindingsResults illustrate that the psychological need for competence and need for autonomy are positively related to perceived distributive and procedural justice, respectively. Moreover, perceived distributive and procedural justice are related to helping behavior. Furthermore, perceived distributive justice fully mediates the relationship between the psychological need for competence and helping behavior, whereas perceived procedural justice partially mediates the relationship between the psychological need for autonomy and helping behavior.Originality/valueFrom a theoretical standpoint, this study offers some theoretical explanations for how the basic psychological needs identified by SDT activate employees' perceived organizational justice. Practically, this study offers several managerial recommendations that help managers manage helping behavior in the organization effectively.

The association between mindfulness and mental health outcomes in athletes: testing the mediating role of autonomy satisfaction as a core psychological need

ABSTRACTMindfulness may improve well-being through increasing one’s ability to self-regulate stressors, which are common and multifaceted among the student-athlete population. However, the mechanisms for influencing such effects lack a theoretical basis. Therefore, we sought to (i) determine the relationship between mindfulness, well-being and stress in student-athletes, and (ii) assess the mediating role of autonomy satisfaction, an innate psychological need required for optimal well-being according to Self-Determination Theory. This was a cross-sectional study of 240 student-athletes (aged 20.5; SD = 3.29; 53.7% males). Mindfulness and autonomy were regressed onto well-being (Model 1) and stress (Model 2) in multivariate regression models assessing direct and indirect mediating mechanisms. More than a third of athletes scored low on well-being, and only 3% high, and a significant proportion of variance was explained in both models (Model 1: R2 = .40; Model 2: R2 = .37). Mindfulness directly predicted autonomy satisfaction (β = .42, p < .001), well-being (β = .26, p < .001), and stress (β = −.21, p < .001). Autonomy satisfaction also directly predicted well-being (β = .47; p < .001) and stress (β = −.48; p < .001), whilst partially mediating the association between mindfulness and well-being (indirect β = .19) and stress (indirect β = −.20). To conclude, mindfulness may improve well-being and reduce stress through increasing athletes’ capacity to self-regulate, satisfying the psychological need for autonomy. Future research may consider designing a controlled trial of mindfulness interventions for student-athletes, underpinned and tested using SDT.

Polish Adaptation of the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale.

This article presents the findings of four studies designed to validate the translated Polish version of the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale. Results of exploratory factor analyses in Study 1 (N = 272, Mage = 41.07) showed that the psychological need for autonomy, relatedness, and competence that are central to the Self-Determination Theory have a bidimensional structure, involving both a need for satisfaction and need for frustration component. Subsequent confirmatory factor analyses in Study 2 (N = 265; Mage = 38.15) provided further evidence for a six-dimensional structure of the scale, thereby distinguishing a satisfaction and frustration component for each of the three needs. Study 3 (N = 158; Mage = 27.28) further revealed that the distinguished subscales are moderately to highly internally consistent and yielded good test–retest reliability. Finally, Study 4 (N = 204; Mage = 20.57) confirmed that satisfaction of the needs is positively related to well-being, while frustration is positively related to depressive symptoms. The Polish version of the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale can be successfully used in future basic and applied studies in the context of Self-Determination Theory.